Twenty One: Six
by Stormasius
Summary: As the Brotherhood of Steel assault Project Purity in an effort to wrest control of the facility from the Enclave, they are backed by Liberty Prime and the Lone Wanderer. As the Wanderer faces his destiny and the man his father died to stop, he is faced with a decision that will change the fate of the Capital Wasteland forever. (One-Shot)


Twenty One: Six

**Disclaimer: Fallout is the property of Bethesda, I own nothing.**

"Significant obstruction detected." Liberty Prime's voice echoed at it strode across the bridge toward the Enclave occupied Jefferson Memorial. "Composition; titanium alloy supplemented by; enhanced photonic resonance barrier." The war machine analysed the force field preventing access to the target site as it closed in on the blockade.

Behind him followed the Lyons' Pride, still on high alert as their brothers fought the Enclave across the DC ruins. Their battle from the Citadel was hard fought as they escorted the robot to its target. Even after all the fighting, Enclave artillery guns fired and their payloads erupted, tearing through the sky with deafening noise. So long as the Pride completed their mission, the Enclave could be quickly routed from the ruins with the aid of Prime. Their brothers just had to hold on until then.

As its mechanical feet struck the ground, hitting the bridge with ground shaking force, Liberty Prime halted to examine the barrier preventing the strike team from advancing. "Established stratagem... Inadequate." It reasoned.

At the forefront of the group, Sarah Lyons took point alongside another Power Armour clad individual. "You ready for this soldier? Once Prime gets the barrier down, it'll be a tough firefight." She asked the man inside the suit, expertly gripping the laser rifle in his hand as he looked beyond the barrier.

"Ha, don't worry about me, I've handled worse." He laughed, his easygoing voice filtered by the radio inside the helmet of the T-45 Power Armour, marked with the Lyons' Pride emblem, he wore. He felt accomplished wearing the armour of such a distinguished unit, even if he was only an honorary member. As he checked over his equipment whilst the giant military robot processed a new method to disable the barrier, he swore under his breath "Shit. I'm down to my last FC. Gonna have to switch to ballistics soon." He told Lyons as he tapped the assault rifle slung over his shoulder.

"What was that about not needing to worry about you?" She chuckled before turning her attention to the barrier again and the Enclave soldiers scrambling to a defensive formation some twenty feet away. "Don't worry, the Pride's got your back." Lyons added as activity began to resume in Prime.

Extending its left arm, the war machine grasped one of the projection pylons, repeating the process with its right while planting its feet into the ruined tarmac beneath. "Revised stratagem; initiate photonic resonance overcharge!" The processed voice announced as it began to produce a photonic resonance field from its chassis. In seconds, the blue electricity sparking from Liberty Prime began to surge out against the field, spreading across Prime's arms and making direct contact with the barrier. The blue energy field flickered for a few moments as the electricity around the robot grew with intensity. With one final push from Prime's systems, the barrier sealing off the memorial shut down.

As it faded, the hulking machine's upper body fell. Before Prime dropped to its knees, the robot caught the ground with its hands and waited momentarily as its systems quickly recovered from the overcharge. Once again, the war machine rose to its feet and resumed its assault that began at the Citadel and would end here. As Liberty Prime began targeting the nearest hostiles, the Enclave garrison opened fire on both the titanic robot and the Brotherhood strike team.

"Push forward Pride! Remember, controlled bursts and watch your spacing, don't get downed by these devils!" Sarah rallied her Pride as the Brotherhood's elite unit charged the Memorial. As laser and plasma fire erupted across the desolate earth around the building, Prime began targeting grounded Vertibirds and personnel with his head laser, the blue beams of energy cutting swiftly through the vehicles as they erupted into great fireballs, taking nearby Enclave soldiers with them.

As the defenders fell, the Lyons' Pride pressed forward, encouraged by their unstoppable ally. Paladin Kodiak took cover behind an outcropping of rock and switched out his laser rifle for a missile launcher. As he did so, Paladin Glade levelled his Gatling laser at the bulk of the dwindling Enclave protectors and discharged the laser into their ranks. As soon as Kodiak had loaded his launcher, he fired it into the ranks of closely grouped soldiers, scattering them across the battlefield as it exploded ans tore up the ground under their feet.

While the remaining Pride members contributed to the assault, Sarah escorted their civilian ally across the chaos of the battlefield to the Memorial door. As she followed from his six, she fired her laser rifle at the Enclave ground forces, taking passing shots. She had confidence her Pride could clear up the mess themselves, adding notches to her belt wasn't her priority here. Protecting the Lone Wanderer was.

As they made it nearer to the entrance, Lyons caught a figure atop the memorial out of the corner of her eye. She quickly repositioned herself to react to the new threat. Unfortunately she was too late as she watched an Enclave soldier fire a rocket from his launcher, aimed directly at the Lone Wanderer.

"Soldier, watch out!" She quickly alerted him to the missile as it zipped through the air, zeroing in on him in a matter of seconds. Sarah was too late to do anything about it at that point, The missile impacted and engulfed the man in a shroud of flames and smoke. Lyons gritted her teeth and scowled as she locked her gaze on the devil armoured trooper.

Before she could get off a shot, Liberty Prime adjusted its targeting and focused its gaze upon said trooper. "Communist detected on American soil. Lethal force engaged!" It declared as with one zap from its eye mounted lasers, the blue energy beams vaporised the aggressor, swiftly and mercilessly putting an end to his threat.

As Sarah watched this, she refocused her priorities. She had to make sure that the Lone Wanderer was okay. If he was killed in action, then they'd have no chance at starting the Purifier. Turning toward the blast zone, she sprinted quickly through the smoke to where she found the downed suit of Power Armour. "Soldier? Soldier!?" She yelled, fearing the worst.

Her prayers were soon answered however, as the valve on the back of the now scorched armour released and the back panel opened, allowing the suit's occupant to exit. Coughing, the Wanderer removed himself from the suit, quickly scrambling for his rifle that had managed to survive the blast. It had only been knocked a few feet away, fortunately for him. "Damn, didn't see that one coming. At least the armour held out." He said as Sarah approached, the sounds of battle around them dying down, signifying that this conflict was near its end.

"You had me worried there, you okay to keep going?" She asked, checking him up and down for any sign of serious injury.

"Yeah... Just a few scratches. Sorry about the armour though, that thing took the worst of it. It'll need some work before its operational again." He gestured to the damaged suit. He was now down to his Recon Armour. It wouldn't do him as much good as another suit of Power Armour but he was out of options. He'd depleted most of the supplies he'd brought in this last assault. All he had on him now aside from that and his weapon was a single dose of Med-X and a pill of Rad-X. What good they'd do him now was little. He'd have to be careful going forward.

"Looks like the Pride and Prime have this place locked down. If you're good we need to get to the Purifier, asap. Just stay behind me this time." She informed him as the Brotherhood soldiers cleaned up.

While the two made their way to the Memorial's entrance, the sound of a Vertibird's rotors spinning tore through the air. As they reached the door, Sarah and the Lone Wanderer watched the gunship touch down and unleash a fresh payload of troops to fight for the Purifier.

"We'll handle this Sentinel, you do your duty, this is ours!" Paladin Vargas took charge of the Pride, nodding to his superior as the strike team unleashed a hail of laser fire upon their foes.

"I'll leave you to it Paladin. See if you can capture that bird for us while you're at it, we sure could use the air support once this is all over." Sarah handed off command to the Paladin as she and the Wanderer entered the Memorial to complete their mission.

Inside the memorial, the Wanderer moved quickly and stealthily, following the Sentinel closely as the two made it down the initial corridor and into the Museum section. It was occupied by a small garrison of Enclave troopers, waiting defensively for the intruders. It was easy to see that they must have heard the destruction outside and were prepared. However, they weren't as prepared as they thought.

"Leave this to me." The Wanderer said as he approached the terminal in the wall just before the Museum door. As he typed a command into the already unlocked terminal, Sarah watched as the ceiling mounted turrets sprung to life and targeted the garrison, reducing them to piles of ash within seconds before at the push of another button, they were deactivated.

"Huh, didn't expect you to pull that one. Smart move." Impressed with his resourcefulness, she gave him a quick nod of approval as he rejoined her.

"Neither did they." He said as the two aimed their rifles and followed the now clear path down to the Rotunda. As they rounded the corner, they came to the door. "Looks like this is it... Autumn's behind that door." He said. Sarah could feel the venom in his words as he said the Colonel's name.

"It's okay; we'll stop him together." She reassured as the Wanderer placed his hand on the door handle and prepared to open it.

"I'll give him what he deserves." He added his demeanour completely shifting, his smile dropping and a focused, unnerving look taking over in his eyes.

When he opened the door, he and Sarah cautiously entered the Purifier control room. Inside, thy found Colonel Autumn, his laser pistol pointed at the young man while two Tesla Power Armour troopers guarded him. He and the Sentinel walked into the centre of the room to meet the leader of the Enclave, the latter of the two eyeing up Autumn's two guards, preparing for the eventual fight.

"You again." The Colonel said, his voice full of contempt as he addressed the Wanderer. "I can't say I'm surprised. You and your ilk seem hell-bent on destroying everything our Government has worked to achieve. There's nothing to stop me from killing you this time. Let's end this."

"I'm going to enjoy killing you." The Wanderer spat, his featured scrunched and his eyes full of rage as he gazed at the man his father died to stop.

"You're in over your head, I'm afraid. But this is the path you choose for yourself. Tell your Father I said hello." He said as he gestured to his guards to open fire.

As the Tesla troopers fired their plasma rifles and Autumn joined the hail of energy fire with his own laser pistol, Sarah and the Wanderer sprinted behind either of the two supporting columns by the doors and took cover, avoiding laser and plasma fire as they did so. Rounding their weapons over the corners of the support columns, the two opened fire on the Enclave soldiers.

"You can't win this, boy!" Colonel Autumn taunted his opponent as he tried to land a clean shot on the Wanderer through the chaos of the firefight.

As the Sentinel and her ally continued their assault, battering the protective plating of the two Tesla clad walking tanks, the firefight tuned into a battle of attrition. So long as they could keep this up, their enemies would fall.

"Reloading, cover me!" Sarah yelled over the cacophony of gunfire as the Lone Wanderer kept up his assault. Quickly diving back behind the pillar, she ejected the FC from her laser rifle and switched to a fresh magazine.

"Men, advance on the Sentinel!" The Colonel ordered, taking advantage of the brief decline in opposition.

The Lone Wanderer was caught off-guard by the sudden shift in orders and leaned out to try and catch their attention. As he did so, the Colonel caught sight and fired his laser pistol, hitting the wanderer in the lower abdomen as part of his Recon Armour burned away along with his flesh. The Wanderer clenched his jaw and growled, the searing pain coursing through his flesh. He couldn't treat the wound either, not in a firefight like this, even if he could, he had used up his last Stimpack in the initial assault on the Purifier. Instead, he just had to fight through the pain, until this was all over.

As the two Enclave soldiers began to close in on Sarah, the Wanderer took aim with his assault rifle and unloaded into the trooper closest to Sarah's position. In a stroke of luck, the torso of the trooper's Power Armour broke off and exposed the soldier's body through the gaps in the chassis. Taking his opportunity, the Wanderer used what remained in his magazine to shoot through the exposed areas of the chassis, killing the trooper instantly. As the felled Tesla soldier collapsed to the ground, Sarah resumed the attack as she aimed around the corner. The remaining trooper had already gotten close. This didn't make the Sentinel hesitate, however. Releasing a drawn out breath, she pulled the trigger on her laser rifle and watched as the beam hit and perforated the trooper's chest, bypassing his armour entirely. As the laser burned through him, he let out an agonising cry and then he went silent as his body crashed against the ground.

Upon seeing both of his guards felled by the duo, Colonel Autumn ceased his attack. "Well, seems you've defeated my guards, don't think I'll give up without a fight though. You won't beat the Enclave here!" He declared.

Unfortunately for the Colonel, it was already over. The Lone Wanderer refused to entertain Autumn any longer and fired at his wrist, knocking the laser pistol from his hand. Then he followed up with two precise shots to the knees, knocking the Colonel to the ground. With his enemy successfully neutralised, the Wanderer approached, holding his burned side with one hand and his assault rifle with the other. Without saying anything, he held the gun out execution style, the muzzle pressed against the Colonel's forehead.

"Mind if I have a few last words?" Autumn requested, the look in his eyes was still strong, he hadn't accepted his fate yet.

The Wanderer however, refused to give him such a luxury and pulled on the trigger, blasting the Colonel's brains on the floor of the Memorial. "That's all you're getting."

With that, the victorious young man lowered his rifle as the Sentinel approached. "Well, that takes care of that."

The Wanderer looked to the remains of the Colonel, his tense, rage induced features softening as he calmed down. "Yeah... I guess... I guess it does."

"By now the Pride should be mopping up whatever opposition is left outside. Come on, let's get this place locked down." She said as the Wanderer followed her toward the Purifier.

A sudden voice over the intercom grabbed the pair's attention. "Hello? Hello, is anyone there? It's Dr. Li." She identified, her voice fraught with urgency. "Something's wrong with the purifier!"

Her words sprung the two into action as the Sentinel sprinted up the stairs of the Purifier toward the intercom while the Wanderer trailed behind, holding his wound. "Dr. Li? It's Sarah Lyons, I'm in the control room; we're both here. What's going on?" She asked.

"I've been monitoring the equipment remotely and we have a serious problem. The facility's been damaged during the fighting. Some of it looks accidental; some of it may have been sabotage. There's pressure building up in the holding tanks. It needs to be released now, or else the whole facility could explode!" She explained as the sense of urgency dawned on the two and their situation became dire. "To release the pressure, you're going to have to turn the Purifier on. Do you understand me? It has to be turned on NOW! If I'm reading this right, I'm afraid there are lethal levels of radiation inside the chamber." She gave a resigned sigh. "I'm sorry, I wish there was some other way, but there's just no time. It has to be done now... or the damage will be catastrophic."

The news weighed heavy on the pair as Sarah turned to her comrade. "Well... So much for celebrating. One of us needs to go in there and turn the damned thing on. And whoever does it-"

"Isn't coming back. I know." The Wanderer finished her sentence. It was obvious how this would turn out. One of them needed to sacrifice themselves if there was ever to be a chance at the Wasteland living again.

Sarah took a deep breath and released it, mentally preparing herself. "Not exactly how I imagined going out, you know? So, what should we do, draw straws?" She tried to make light of it, hoping that adding some humour to their dire situation would lighten the burden of what was to come.

The Wanderer removed his hand from his burned wound. "Don't worry about it." He said, his breathing heavy and irregular. "Autumn caught me in that fight. Got me pretty bad. Don't know if I could've made it anyway. I'll go. While I've got enough strength to still make a difference." He said, coughing heavily as he finished his sentence.

"I see... I wished things could've been different. Just be quick about it. If that radiation is bad enough, you won't have long." She hid her sadness behind the urgency and need to preform her duty.

"Don't worry Lyons, this is how it had to be. My life started with Project Purity, now it's going to end here. It's all come full circle." He said as he walked into the antechamber and Sarah activated the airlock switch, the door closing on him. There was no turning back now. "Scott." He suddenly said as he looked to Sarah.

"What?" She asked,caught off-guard by his sudden call out of a name.

"My name. Never got round to telling you it. Thought you might wanna know who saved everyone's ass once this is all over." He smirked, hiding a wince of pain as he produced a needle of Med-X and a pill of Rad-X. Swallowing the latter and injecting the former as he groaned. It wasn't much but at least it gave him more time.

"Not the time for jokes, but... Thank you, for everything." She said as she flipped the switch and the door the the control room opened.

As it did, Scott could feel the radiation, hot and stinging as it poured over him. Then he started walking toward the control panel. "I am Alpha and Omega." He started, reciting the mantra he held closely. The dream of both Mother and Father, what the Son would make reality. "The beginning and the end." He said as he fought back the agony of his wound coursing through his body and stood against the radiation attacking him. "I will give unto him that is athirst of." He continued as he reached the panel.

Pressing the number two, he proceeded with his speech. "The fountain."

He then pressed the number one, he was almost there. "Of the water."

He said, pressing in the number six. Only one button left. "Of life."

Scott collapsed against the console before he could press the key, his breathing was erratic, he was almost there, he couldn't give up. Not until it was over. Summoning his remaining strength, he dragged his arm across the console and pressed down on the enter key. "Freely..." He wheezed as he rolled onto his back and slid down the console onto the ground. Scott looked over to where Sarah stood, his vision beginning to blur.

"Bye Sarah." He weakly muttered. She had her hand pressed against the glass and no longer hid her sorrow as she looked upon the dying hero of the wastes. As the purifier sprung to life, pumping water and cleansing it of its impurities, Scott felt his strength sap and his vision go dark. This was the end for him. As he waited for the radiation to do its job, he felt a sudden surge hit him like a Behemoth. Then... nothing.

"_Secure the area! What's their status?"_

"_Not good sir, the Sentinel's unconscious. Our friend here's out cold too but he's in bad shape. A major burn wound to his lower abdomen and severe radiation poisoning. It's a miracle he's still alive. But he doesn't have much longer, we need to get him to the Citadel now!"_

"_Take the bird and get them both to the Med-bay! ASAP soldier, We can't lose either of them! Steel be with us..."_

**|Twenty One: Six|**

**Thank you for reading Twenty One: Six. I've been wanting to do my take on the ending the Fallout 3's main quest for some time now and I did my best to be faithful to the original story and dialogue while adding my own things in to make it more of my own thing. I also decided to use things like Power Armour frames and Fusion Cells over Microfusion Cells from Fallout 4 since while retcons of Fallout, it is Bethesda's vision for how the setting actually works and I wanted a bit more accuracy toward that than what's represented in Fallout 3.**

**It's been an interesting little project to write and experiment with something I haven't really tried before. For now, this is only going to be a one-shot. I did leave the ending open with Scott surviving by the skin of his teeth though, leaving his story open for him to live past this but we'll see if I continue from this one-shot in any way. That's all I've got to say on this, so thanks for reading!**


End file.
